


Town For Sale

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Angst and Humor, Committed Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 04:09:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18865423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: “You can do anything you want now. You can live anywhere, do anything. Why would you want to stay here when all those other things are out there waiting for you?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Why would you stay here with me?”OrDavid comes to terms with the realization that the town is still for sale.





	Town For Sale

**Author's Note:**

> I think it's pretty likely that the sale of the town is going to return as the final plot arc for season 6 and I think that David probably has some pretty interesting issues/hang ups about money and people who have money and how relationships work (or don't work) with money. So this is a bit of an exploration of that.

He and Patrick were headed back to town from a trade show in Elmdale when they passed the town sign. He’d driven past it hundreds of times since they’d moved here and he no longer really noticed the outlandish message to passing motorists. It was simply part of the landscape. But this time, as they drove past, it caught his eye. Not the mural of Roland’s grandfather, but the smaller sign attached to its edge. 

“Town for Sale”

Somehow, he’d forgotten. 

He glanced over at Patrick, but he was focused on the road, humming along to the music under his breath.

Did he know? David wondered. Patrick had worked for Ray for all those months so it was certainly possible that he’d learned that the town deed was in David’s name. It took his breath away for a moment and he turned away from Patrick and stared out the window just in case Patrick caught a glimpse of something on his face. 

Patrick reached out and rubbed his leg. “What do you think about those cutting boards that we saw?” Even though David usually made the final decision on which vendors to accept for the store, they always compared notes after attending an event like this one. 

He wrenched his thoughts back to the trade show. “They’re beautiful, but I’m not sure of the market. Maybe we can try a few and see?” He chewed on the inside of his cheek, still thinking about the for sale sign.

“I did like those alpaca throws,” Patrick continued. “I think they’d be a good fit. But I’m not sure about the woman with the jam.”

“Mmm hmm…”

“And the ceramic foot baths are a definite no.” There was a long pause and David looked over to see Patrick glance at him with an amused look on his face.

“You okay over there? You seem kind of distracted.”

“Yeah. Yes. Just thinking about everything we saw today.”

“Thinking about those foot baths?” 

David shuddered. “What? No. Why would you even bring those up?” He could tell by the look on Patrick’s face that he’d missed part of the conversation. He reached down to play with Patrick’s fingers.

“Do you ever think about what would’ve happened if I’d never gone to Ray’s that day?”

Patrick laughed. “You’re in an introspective mood today. What brought this on?”

David stared out the window for a moment. “It’s nothing, forget it.”

“David, it’s a pretty small town. If we hadn’t met when we did, we probably would have met somewhere else.” Patrick tangled his fingers with David’s and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He smiled at Patrick and squeezed back.

“Any other items catch your eye?” He could tell that Patrick was trying to distract him, and took the opportunity to bring his thoughts back to the present.

“I liked those ceramic bowls and the guy with the hand carved wooden spoons.”

“What about the couple with the beard care products?” 

David cringed. “They’re a good fit with our other personal care items, but…”

“You don’t like beards?” Patrick smirked at him.

“What if our store becomes a hangout for bearded lumberjacks? That won’t fit with our aesthetic.”

He smiled to himself as Patrick laughed at him and he gripped his hand a bit tighter. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the luckiest day of his life had been the day that the sale of town fell through. And he couldn’t stop thinking about how Patrick might react if the day ever came that they did finally sell the town. 

***

Later that night they were curled up in bed when he tried again.

“What would you do if you won the lottery?” They didn’t talk about money much outside of day to day spending and when Patrick occasionally told him to stop buying $100 eye cream. In the past, money had always just been there and he’d never thought about it. And then when it wasn’t there, he thought about it all the time, but not in an organized way, instead as a means to an end.

He knew Patrick probably had plans and spreadsheets and sensible ideas about money. Ideas that he had probably never thought about.

Patrick was looking at him carefully. “What are you really asking?”

“I just...I just wonder what you would do if you could do anything?”

“David. I’m exactly where I want to be. This is what I would do.” 

Patrick reached over and cupped the back of David’s neck, pulling him close and kissing him gently. He slid his hand along Patrick’s hip, pulling their bodies together. Patrick’s lips were soft against his. He rested his forehead against Patrick’s, looking him in the eye.

“Me too. This is where I want to be.”

***

In the morning, Patrick woke him with a cup of coffee and a good morning kiss. He tugged Patrick towards him hopefully, but he could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to be persuaded. 

“Come on, out of bed,” Patrick teased, “I’m meeting with the accountant at 8:00 and you’re having breakfast with your sister.”

He convinced Patrick to kiss him one more time before getting out of bed with a groan. Ever since he’d moved in with Patrick, he’d missed seeing Alexis, so now they met for breakfast once a week. 

At the cafe, he waited for Alexis in their usual booth, twisting the gold rings on his left hand. He couldn’t stop thinking about selling the town. Something that he had once pinned his hopes and dreams on now sparked his anxiety.

What would happen to the town, to their store if the town sold? What would Patrick do if David suddenly had money? Would he become one of those hangers-on who would do anything for a taste of David’s money? And the biggest worry of all, who would he become if the money returned? Would he revert to the shallow, spoiled person who didn’t care about anyone but himself?

He thoughts were spiraling when Alexis threw herself into the booth across from him.

“David! Did you and Patrick have a fight? You look miserable.”

“We did not have a fight, Patrick just made me get up too early, that’s all. If I’d known you were going to be 10 minutes late I could have stayed in bed that much longer.”

Alexis rolled her eyes at him. “Anyway David, I need your help. Mom wants me to help rearrange her wig wall and you know it just makes my hands itch. Plus you know she likes it better when you do it.”

It was David’s turn to roll his eyes. “Fine, but you’re going to owe me.” His expression turned serious. If anyone understood about selling the town it would be Alexis.

“Have you ever thought about what might have happened if we’d sold the town that time?” 

“Oh my god, David! You’re not thinking of leaving town are you? Does Patrick know? What does he think?”

“Alexis. I’m not going anywhere.” He looked down at his breakfast. “Did you know the town is still for sale?”

Across the table he saw Alexis go completely still. Her eyes met his and they stared at each other for a minute. 

After a long moment Alexis asked in a quiet voice, “What do you think you’d do?”

He shrugged and looked down at the table again, toying with his fork. “This is the only place I’ve ever been happy.”

She smiled at him, the small, soft smile she only used when they truly understood each other. They were suddenly interrupted by their dad who came up to the table and sat down beside Alexis.

”David! Alexis! Your mother is looking for you. She wants to…”

“...rearrange her wig wall, we know.”

“No, I was going to say that she wants a ride to Elmdale, there’s a sale on those wig stands that she likes.”

“Why can’t you take her?” David demanded.

“It’s Stevie’s day off and I’m not leaving Roland in charge again. And you know your mother refuses to shop retail by herself.”

“Speaking of sales, did you know that the town is still for sale?” Alexis asked.

“Of course I knew, I have to renew the listing with Ray every six months. What do you kids think we’ve been doing all this time? Improving the motel, growing David’s store, it all makes it more likely we could actually sell it one day.” 

David thought back to their first year here and his dad’s determination to fix up the town so that it would sell more easily. His own investment in the store had had nothing to do with selling the town and everything to do with proving his own abilities. And, of course, everything to do with Patrick.

“So you’d just leave Stevie and the motel, then?” Stevie didn’t panic very easily, but he knew that the idea of running the motel on her own would make her break out in hives.

“And us?” Alexis added. Their dad was clearly caught off guard. David smiled at Alexis, grateful his sister was on the same page.

“Well, no,” his dad started to backtrack. “Whatever happens, we’ll decide as a family.”

“And how’s mom going to feel about that?” David couldn’t imagine his mother doing anything other than taking the first plane out of town the second the opportunity presented itself.

“We’ll discuss it as a family,” his dad repeated. “And don’t forget, your mother still needs a ride to Elmdale!”

“Okay, well, I have a business to run.” He picked up his notebook and began to slide out of the booth. On the other side, Alexis was pushing at their dad to move out of the way.

“And Ted needs me at the clinic today. Sorry, looks like you should have planned this better.”

***

Back at the store, Patrick was restocking the bath salts. David wrapped his arms around him and tucked his face into the crook of his neck. Patrick hugged him back, hands stroking up and down his back.

“You okay?” Patrick asked after a moment. “You’ve been acting funny since yesterday.”

“It’s nothing. It’s stupid.”

“It can’t be that stupid if it’s making you upset,” Patrick said reasonably.

“What do you think would happen if we had money again?”

“What do you mean if we had money again?”

He released Patrick so that he could pace around the store. “The town is still for sale!”

“Okay?” Patrick was obviously confused. 

“We own the town, or technically, I do, since it’s my name on the deed and it’s been up for sale ever since we moved here!”

“And someone wants to buy it?” He could tell that Patrick was struggling to put the pieces together.

“Not right now! But what if they did? And what if having a little bit of money again makes me not care about anything else? What if I become a horrible shallow person again? What if I lose you?” His voice dropped to a whisper at the end and he spun around to stand in front of Patrick.

This time it was Patrick who wrapped his arms around him and held him close. 

“There are an awful lot of ‘what ifs’ in that sentence,” he said softly. “David, you aren’t that person anymore and you aren’t going to lose me, you couldn’t even drive me away if you wanted to.”

David clutched him tightly. “I don’t want to leave here,” he said. “This is the only place I’ve ever been happy, because you make me happy. I don’t care about the money as long as we’re together.”

He pulled back so that he could see Patrick’s face. His fiance gave him a gentle smile, the one David knew meant ‘you’re being an idiot, but I love you anyway’. Seeing it made David smile in return, grateful for Patrick’s ability to ground him.

“David, you know we can live wherever we want, right? You have your own life now, we own a business, we have an apartment, you have me. I know you’d miss your family if they left, but there’s nothing that says you have to go where they go.”

“If I thought I had to leave, would you go with me?”

Patrick’s expression turned serious and he slid his hands down David’s arms and rested them at his waist.

“Try and stop me,” he said fondly. “But if you’re leaving for a life of parties and whatever, we might have to talk about that.”

“That’s not what I want.” He wasn’t sure what he wanted. 

He felt Patrick’s hands tighten on his hips. “What do you want?” he asked softly.

“You,” he said immediately. “And the store….but…” he trailed off uncertainly. He ran his hands up Patrick’s arms, hoping the touch would center him and stop his thoughts from spinning.  
“But?” Patrick seemed content to wait for him to organize his thoughts. He gently pulled David a little closer, so that they were almost touching.

“But I never saw myself living here. If I don’t leave when I have the chance, does that mean that I have to join Bob’s poker game or care about town council or wear plaid? Everyone here wears plaid! I can’t spend the rest of my life somewhere that doesn’t have an art gallery! Or a wine bar! Or a decent clothing store!” 

He wasn’t from here. He couldn’t be from here, from this town with one main street and no traffic lights. He was from New York, where there were designers and art galleries and culture. New York, where he’d been miserable and lonely. Where no one had ever looked at him the way that Patrick looked at him every day. The way he was looking at him right now.

“David. Home is wherever we want it to be. If you truly want to live somewhere with an art gallery or a wine bar or a clothing store, then we can find a way to make that happen.”

***

It was Monday and the store was closed, so they were both home when the envelope arrived. Patrick had to sign for it and David could see by looking at it that it was the kind of envelope that usually contained bad news, like notices from the government or divorce papers. Seeing it, David’s anxiety started to spiral. Had Patrick secretly been married? Was the government going to take everything from Patrick the way they had from him?

Patrick merely looked puzzled, spinning the envelope around to read the return address before tearing it open. David clenched his hands, but Patrick looked curious and then a little sad as he read the letter. Patrick flipped through the rest of the documents and went to sit on the couch. David sat beside him, perched on the edge of the sofa.

“Everything okay?” he asked nervously.

“My old boss died.” David couldn’t read the look on Patrick’s face. He looked a bit sad but also bewildered.

“Okay, well the only old bosses of yours that I know about are my dad and Ray. Since I saw my dad this morning and I’m pretty sure everyone would have been talking about it if Ray died, I might need a bit more to go on.”

“His name was Doug Halverson. He was kind of like Ray, except better at it. He had a dozen different businesses, real estate, investment services, a bunch of different things. I worked for him for five years after I got out of college.”

“Okay?” David was confused why Patrick would be receiving a bunch of legal documents from his old boss after all this time.

“He always said I was like his son, but…”

Patrick looked over at him. He was smiling, but it was uncertain, as though something had changed.

“David, he left me everything. It’s a lot of money.”

David felt like the bottom had fallen out of his world.

***

That night, he laid on his back in the dark, listening to Patrick breathing beside him. Patrick had fallen asleep right away, but David had been lying awake for hours, unable to stop thinking about the money. Patrick’s money.

If he was honest with himself, he’d always thought about the money. Not as often now as he had before, but regularly. Patrick was right, it was a lot of money. Not the type of money that they had had before they lost everything, but four million dollars was, without question, a life-changing amount of money. He felt Patrick stir beside him.

“Are you still awake?” Patrick’s voice was husky with sleep and he moved over to tuck himself under David’s arm, resting his head on David’s shoulder.

“Mmm hmm.” 

“Wanna talk about it?” He could tell Patrick wasn’t entirely awake.

“I’m okay, just restless,” He wasn’t sure what to say. The fear rose up inside him and he pulled Patrick closer so that he could kiss his temple. The days and nights he would be able to do this were probably limited now, so he wanted to make the most of them. A tear slid down his cheek. He froze, worried that Patrick would notice, but he’d fallen back asleep.

He’d hardly slept, so getting out of bed the next morning was even harder than usual. He knew that everything had changed yesterday. Maybe if he stayed in bed, he wouldn’t have to deal with what this sudden windfall was going to mean for their relationship, he thought.

He could tell that Patrick was losing patience with him, so he dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. He closed his eyes and let the hot water cascade over him. He got out of the shower and looked at the four gold rings that were sitting on the shelf by the sink. He knew it was just a matter of time now before Patrick asked for them back. He could have anyone he wanted, go anywhere in the world. Why would he stay here with him?

He came into the kitchen, Patrick handed him a cup of coffee and kissed him gently, reaching out with one hand to run his thumb along David’s cheek. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yup.” He looked away, focused on his coffee, hoping Patrick wouldn’t press him.

“Okay.” Patrick sounded skeptical, but he didn’t push. “You ready?”

He nodded and followed Patrick out of the apartment. As the door closed behind them, he looked back, wanting to hold the moment in his mind.

***

The day dragged on. He was tired from the lack of sleep and tense thinking about what might happen next. He watched Patrick whenever he wasn’t looking, noticing how relaxed he seemed. Of course he was relaxed, he thought, he probably wouldn’t have to worry about anything ever again. 

Finally, the day ground to a close. He had swept the floor and was hovering nervously in the doorway to the back room while Patrick closed out the cash. He finished up and locked the cash in their small safe and got up from the desk, coming towards David. David’s anxiety spiked. Was this going to be it? The moment when Patrick said he was leaving him?

Instead, Patrick wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close and holding him tightly.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you today,” he murmured in David’s ear. “But you can tell me about it.”

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“David.” 

He tucked his face into Patrick’s shoulder, delaying the inevitable.

“I don’t want you to leave me,” he whispered.

“I don’t want me to leave you either. Why would you think I’m going somewhere?”

“You can do anything you want now. You can live anywhere, do anything. Why would you want to stay here when all those other things are out there waiting for you?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Why would you stay here with me?”

“Do you really think so little of me?” Patrick’s voice was low and harsh as he pulled away from David. “Do you really think I would throw away what we have for a bit of money?”

He could see Patrick was truly angry. David tried to take a step back, but he was already backed up against the wall. He crossed his arms to protect himself as a shiver went through him at the tone in Patrick’s voice.

“How can you think that money could ever be more important to me than you are?”

More than anything, he wanted to run away, to escape this conversation, to go back to a couple of days ago, before everything was complicated. He tried to stop them but felt the tears start. He closed his eyes, only to feel Patrick wiping the tears away, his fingers gentle against David’s cheeks. 

“David, sweetheart, I’m sorry. It cuts me up inside when you say that you don’t deserve what we have.” Patrick’s hands were still cupping his face, but he couldn’t bear to look his fiance in the eyes.

“Why wouldn’t you give me up? It’s what I did when I had money.”

“David…” Patrick’s voice was soft now. He ran his hands down David’s arms. “Look at me.”

He didn’t want to, but he could feel Patrick watching him intently. He let his eyes meet Patrick’s for a brief second, just long enough to see Patrick looking at him the way he always did, eyes filled with love and patience. 

“I would give up everything I had and live in a tent before I gave you up.”

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to live in a tent. I have standards, you know. At the very least I demand a cheap motel room.” He heard Patrick chuckle.

“Maybe I could buy the motel and we could move there permanently.” 

“Ha,” he said weakly. He let Patrick pull him close and kiss him tenderly on the lips. 

***

Two weeks later, he was still uneasy. He knew that Patrick believed that the money wouldn’t change anything, but he’d seen too many people ripped apart in situations like this. More times than he cared to remember, he’d been the one responsible for tearing things to pieces.

“What do you think about buying a place together?” Patrick suggested one evening as they were curled up on the couch. David felt the tension that had been lingering in the back of his mind start to creep through his body.

“Don’t you mean, what do I think about you buying a place?” It came out a bit more sharply than he’d intended. For the first time, he could see the worry in Patrick’s eyes as he looked at him. He continued before Patrick could say anything. “I don’t want to be one of those people who gets gifts or whatever and takes advantage of you like people did to me.”

“David.” He could hear the love and concern in Patrick’s voice.

“I like it when people give me things. I like it too much. And I don’t want it to be like that between us, I don’t want you to ever wonder if the things you can give me are more important to me than you are.”

Patrick was silent for a long moment. “Okay,” he said finally.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”

“David. I would give you anything you asked for or anything I thought you needed without a second thought. But if what you need is for me to not give you things, I can do that too.”

“You can’t know what it was like.”

“I know.” He felt Patrick slip his hand up to cup the back of his neck, pulling him close to kiss his temple.

“I…” he cleared his throat as his voice cracked a little. “I would give people things. Money. Parties. Sex. In hopes they would give me something back. But they never did. So I don’t want you to give me things if I can’t give you something back.” He closed his eyes, Patrick was gently rubbing the back of his neck. It felt nice, distracting him from the tears that were threatening.

“David,” Patrick’s voice was soft and gentle. “You give me things everyday. You’re giving me something right now.”

“I just don’t want you to resent me. And I don’t want to feel like I’m dependent on your money.”

“Okay,” Patrick said again.

 

***

He was standing behind the counter at the store when Patrick came in and set a large envelope in front of him. As David reached for it, Patrick put his hand on it for a second to stop David from opening it right away.

“This is what I want to do,” he said. “I don’t want to hear whether I should or shouldn’t. It’s the right thing for me.”

Patrick kissed him on the cheek and went into the back room, leaving David looking apprehensively at the envelope.

He pulled it open to find a stack of legal documents. At the top of the pile was the deed to the town of Schitt’s Creek. Instead of David’s name, Patrick’s was now listed as the official owner. He stared at it for a moment, his breath catching in his throat before scooping up the paperwork and heading into the back room. Patrick was sitting at the desk, but David could tell he wasn’t working.

“What are you doing?” He set the paperwork on the desk.

“I’m buying something I love.” Patrick smiled at him, but he could feel a bit of tension crackling in the air.

“Are you? Or are you trying to find a way to give me your money, even after I told you not to?”

Patrick sighed and looked away from him for a second before his eyes met David’s again.

“I don’t care about the money, not really. I want things to be equal between us and I know you feel that they aren’t anymore, that the money gives me some sort of advantage.”

He knew Patrick was right. He’d been on edge ever since Patrick had learned about the money, waiting for something to go wrong, for Patrick to realize he’d made a mistake. Most of all, he’d felt like everything was uneven, that accepting anything Patrick tried to give him would make him no better than all of the people who had tried to take advantage of him when he had had money. 

“You don’t have to do this.”

“It was either this, or donating all of it to Ted’s cat rescue.” 

“Okay, but…” he twisted the rings on his fingers.

“David, I’m not giving you anything. This is a business transaction. A bad one, maybe, but I’m buying a thing you own for the price you wanted. Just let me do this.”

He thought about it, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Desperately needing to touch Patrick, he moved around the desk and held out his hand. When Patrick took it, he pulled him close and put his arms around his shoulders.

“Does this mean if I want to get a pothole fixed, I can call you?”

“David…”

“Or what if I have a complaint about the mayor, can I send you a petition?”

“Oh my god.”

“The sidewalks need replacing. And the town sign is an abomination.”

“I’m going home.”

“Wait! I’m only part way through my list.”


End file.
